Cool mornings -- Autumn is short here. The Deer are active in the late afternoons -- I've seen several little groups as early as 6 PM. It's Monday and moving still SUX!

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from London, England; Ransdorp, North Holland; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and two peek-ins from MySpace -- anywhere USA.

Remembering my friend George-O at: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; The Orson Welles Rumor Debunked; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!
Read my latest Spitfires in Context essay.

Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: A new Inuit Art show will be going up at the Hockaday Museum of Art this week.

Media Watch: Sublime -- A two-hour special about the career of Luciano Pavarotti on Montana NPR last night. It was a documentary about his 70th Birthday/Farewell Tour which ended at the Torino Olympics, but might have gone on for quite awhile if cancer would have left him alone. There was one opera where a Tenor aria required a natural F above high C -- luckily, it was recorded in 1974 when Luciano was closer to thirty. The announcer also made the point that he maintained his diction, and sang it pretty. It DID sound like the Soprano (Joan Sutherland in this case.) was interrupting, but no, it was Pavarotti.
Ridiculous -- Britney Spears revisited MTV's Video Music Awards, but wasn't really prepared for such a high-pressure gig in the wake of her overly-publicized personal problems. OK, I may be projecting, but the proof was all on the stage! Whomever costumed her should have flattered her, rather than have her look so undistinguished IMHO. Britney wasn't wearing much, and showed an OK beach-body, which was far from bad, considering she'd just had two children over the last two years. I don't mind a dancer flirting with nudity at all, but I can think of a half-dozen ways they could have made her look sexier. Looking good was a minor issue compared to Spears' lackluster performance -- the lip-synching was BAD, and her dancing was WORSE, thus my observation about her lack of preparation. Britney's a talented dancer, whatever else is said about her, but she didn't show it at the VMAs.
The choreography was pretty unimaginative too -- I noticed Kid Rock in the audience, and the faux-pole dancing looked like it might have come from his vulgar stage show. He later took home a citation from the Las Vegas police for assaulting professional door-knob Tommy Lee.
I remember when Paula Abdul did a half-baked number on the VMAs over a decade ago. The bloom was off her career at the time too, but to see her actually goof up was embarrassing. She had a few more hits afterward, so her fans forgave her. (Maybe because MTV never showed that mistake-ridden mess again -- I wonder what will be the fate of Britney's on-air misfire?) Ms. Spears' career may yet recover, but she'll need to: 1) Choose good material; 2) Rehearse it.

Theater/Theatre: Here's what fabulous dancer Katie Duck and her Magpie gang are doing after Spain --
VARIA 2007 - IMPROVISATION FESTIVAL 19th - 24th OF NOVEMBER SWEDEN GOTHENBURG - THE THEATRE ATALANTE

23 Friday Workshop* Magpie Music Dance Company 11:00 – 15:00
23 Friday Magpie Music Dance Company Performance 19:30
24 Saturday Conversation day “In the spirit of improvising” presentations - VARIA, Magpie, PRODUKT - video, discussions, coffee 12:00 – 15:00
24 Saturday Performance Nordic group & Magpie Music Dance Company and guests 19:30
24 Saturday Finishing of party at the theatre – around 21:30

Registration workshop - varia07@hotmail.com
More info about VARIA2007 - http://varia07.blogg.se
Tickets & info - www.atalante.org or +46 (0) 31 7118200


Ms. Spears, Ms. Abdul and Ms. Aguileria have all had their bright and dark moments on the tube. Some of the innumerable other performers who have both triumphed on TV, and blown it bad include Jackie Gleason, Judy Garland, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, and Tiny Tim.